First, a potted history of media courses. They appeared in the late seventies, grew popular in the eighties, and by the nineties, every sort of media course was hugely oversubscribed. New ones sprang up all over the country, but not all of them were well-equipped or even well-thought-through. By the late nineties, media courses had developed a bad reputation. Newspapers wrote critical articles about them. Eminent educationalists pronounced them ‘a short cut to the dole queue’. And everyone else made bad jokes, like: ‘What do you say to a media studies graduate? Burger and fries, please!’

Then something interesting happened, something which perhaps should have happened earlier: television got involved in the shaping of media courses. TV bosses visited the colleges and universities and said: ‘This is what we want – teach this, in this way, with this equipment.’ The good courses pretty smartly cottoned on, and developed their syllabus accordingly (the very good ones were already doing useful work). TV companies began to forge links with colleges that were teaching good and useful stuff, and soon the companies were giving most of their work experience places to these hand-picked, industry-approved colleges. And so it came to pass that a two-tier system of media courses developed: excellent, well-respected courses that were geared to meet the needs of the industry. And other ones. You need to know how to find the former, and avoid the latter.

KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEDIA AND MEDIA STUDIES

But first, a quick digression – what’s the difference between media and media studies? ‘Media studies’ is a purely academic degree, where you analyse media in all its forms: if you want to study the media’s role in modern society, or debate the symbolism of soaps, then media studies is for you. ‘Media’, or ‘media production’, on the other hand, is a completely different sort of degree, which should teach you professional skills like how to make television programmes. If you want to work in cameras, sound or post-production, a media degree from an industry-approved university or college will stand you in good stead. It’s a useful degree if you want to floor manage, depending on what you plan to do the year after college (see Chapter 4). And it’s useful if you want to be a researcher – as long as you’re aware of how some producers feel about media degrees (see Chapter 3).

FINDING A GOOD COURSE

So how do you go about finding out which are the good, industry-approved courses? Start with a list of universities where you’d like to study. (The Skillset website is a good research tool. It has links to other useful sites – like skillsformedia, and the British Film Institute – where you can find details of all the media courses in the UK.) Then interview the course providers until you have a shortlist of courses that are worth visiting. Here are the questions to ask:

• Do you have industry links? If the answer is yes, ask which TV companies they have links with. And if you really want to do your research thoroughly, phone the TV companies to check (ask for someone in personnel or training, they’ll be happy to help). Some television companies proudly announce their media course links on their websites.
• How much hands-on, practical work do you do? The right answer is at least 50 per cent. You need to know that your course will give you a good grounding in practical skills like how to edit, or how to operate a camera, as well as covering the theory side of things.
• What sort of facilities do you have? You need to know that your course has industry-standard editing equipment, and enough cameras to cover every student’s coursework needs. Some courses even have their own cable television stations. A good course will be pleased to boast about its facilities, and happy to show you round.
• How much help do you give in finding work experience placements? Good courses will give you lots of help and advice; some will even organise the whole thing for you. If the course organisers are cagey about discussing work experience, be suspicious.
• How many of the staff have worked in television? It has to be a good thing if some of the course tutors have worked – or are still working – in the industry.
• What kind of jobs do your graduates get? Some courses specialise in producing technical graduates; others tend to turn out wannabe producers and directors. If you know you want to be a camera operator one day, it’s worth applying to courses with a technical bent.

When you visit, talk to as many lecturers and technical support staff as you can, to get a feel for the place. What you’re looking for is enthusiasm – if staff love what they do, they’ll teach you well and you’ll have fun learning.

It’s sometimes surprising which courses come up trumps. You’ll find good ones tucked away in all sorts of unusual places. For instance, Bournemouth University runs a three-year degree course that has an outstanding reputation. Another well-respected course is run by East Coast Media out of the old fishing town of Grimsby on the Lincolnshire coast. And tucked away in the suburbs of Leeds, the University College of Trinity and All Saints offers an excellent media course, which produces top-quality graduates.

Examining what makes a good course

So why do these ones work? It’s worth examining a good course in detail. Let’s take Bournemouth as the benchmark. Here’s what’s good about it:

• Students do a lot of group work, which is great training for real life. Television is a team sport.
• The industry-standard equipment is professionally organised and managed: students have to book out camera and sound equipment through the technical support department. (Again, just like real life.) And there’s plenty of equipment, so everyone gets hands-on experience.
• Students learn how to write scripts and tell stories. Understanding how to put a script together is one of the most important TV skills. Storytelling is what television is all about – whatever TV job you want to do, it’s an important skill to learn.
• Students have to specialise for their final year project: they decide whether they’re going to be an editor, a producer, or a production manager, or whatever. This might not be the job they end up doing in the real world, but it’s good practice for them to see a job through.
• And finally, perhaps the most important point about this course is that it instills in its students a certain humility: graduates don’t expect to walk into a top job straight from college. They understand that their degree is only the very beginning, and they’ll need to start as runners or junior researchers and work their way up, just like everyone else.

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS WILL YOU NEED?

If you do decide to do media as a degree, you’ll need at least 3 Cs at A-level to get on a worthwhile course. The more popular the course, the higher the qualifications (Bournemouth’s BATV requires a minimum of 3 Bs). Course organisers are looking for a broad education. The Dean of one of the best ones sums it up: ‘We want well-rounded people with varied interests and a passion for telling stories.’

Because the good degree courses are oversubscribed, you’ll be expected to work for your place: some courses will put you through a tough interview, others will ask you to produce written work, or even a video, to back up your application.

One day, all media courses will be good, and all media students will be justly proud of their hard-earned degrees. There’s talk of ‘kite-marking’ courses, and other ways of giving official recognition to centres of excellence. Until then, you need to do your own research.